American embassy security leader assassinated in Yemen

posted at 8:41 am on October 11, 2012 by Ed Morrissey

On the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington DC, our consulate in Benghazi was sacked, and four Americans murdered, including our Ambassador, J. Christopher Stevens. The Obama administration considered that just a coincidence in its public statements on the attack for several days, insisting that the attack was a “spontaneous demonstration” that just “spun out of control.” Later, we discovered that there was no protest at the time, and the Obama administration had designated this a terrorist attack within the first 24 hours.

Masked gunmen shot dead a Yemeni man on his way to work at the U.S. embassy in Sanaa on Thursday, a security source said, the latest in a wave of assassinations in the Arab state where Washington is battling al Qaeda militants.

The attackers on a motorcycle opened fire on a car carrying Qassem Aqlan – who headed an embassy security team – in the center of Yemen’s capital, the source told Reuters.

“This (assassination) operation has the fingerprints of al Qaeda which carried out similar operations before,” said the source who asked not to be named.

Are they sure? Perhaps this is just another spontaneous movie review, only with lighter weapons.

Twitchy notes the contradictory reports on the job description of the victim. Reuters says he “headed an embassy security team,” while other reports range from his being a security guard to the chief of security at the embassy. The description from Reuters appears to be a middle ground, but obviously this will get clarified later, along with the nature of the attack — hopefully much sooner than the White House did with its deceptive posturing on the Benghazi attack.

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Of course relations would have to be reciprocal. That’s pretty self-evident, don’t you think?

Dante on October 11, 2012 at 11:03 AM

Yes, it is self-evident, but the idea that countries like Iran will love us if we let them develop nuclear weapons, stop supporting Israel, support the Palestinians in all of their demands, leave the Middle East, and the rest of Ron Paul’s magic faerie foreign policy ideas is crazy.

I’m a libertarian. I didn’t support the ground war in Afghanistan nor the Iraq war; however, I disagree vehemently with Ron Paul’s My Little Ponyland view of the ME and Islamic terror.

Islamists, who I categorically distinguish from Muslims, do NOT want to be “friends” with us. They do not want to work with us. They do not want us to exist. They are members of misogynistic, racist, homophobic, bigoted, child-abusing, xenophobic, tribalistic, antisemitic, Christophobic, maniacal, thin-skinned, homicidal, suicidal, totalitarian, 7th century death cult.

If and when the Neanderthals decide they wish to join the rest of us in the 21st century, I will be more than happy to welcome them to modernity. Until then, I am more than content to see as many of them obliterated from the sky as possible or sit back and let them kill each other.

I am SO OVER “Muslim” sensitivities. There are countries in the EU where the mere TRUTHFUL criticism of radical Islam’s treatment of women, girls, homosexuals, FGM, etc., can land you in prison if it “offends” some “Muslims.” I put “Muslims” in quotes because the Muslims in question are always Islamists — radicals — not Muslims like Mina Ahadi, Edip Yuksel, and Ibn Warraq. Then, you have the stupid, leftist “Useful Infidels” like Unni Wikan, a leading feminist and professor of social anthropology at the University of Oslo, who said in response to a report that every solved violent rape in Norway in the last 5 years had been committed by a “Muslim”:

“Norwegian women must take their share of responsibility for these rapes (because Muslim men found their manner of dress provocative). Norwegian women must realise that we live in a Multicultural society and adapt themselves to it.”

THAT kind of faerie dust thinking is why Islamists like Norwegian Imam Mullah Krekar can so confidently say this:

“We’re the ones who will change you. Just look at the development within Europe, where the number of Muslims is expanding like mosquitoes. Every Western woman in the EU is producing an average of 1.4 children. Every Muslim woman in the same countries is producing 3.5 children. Our way of thinking will prove more powerful than yours.”

This is awful. I don’t care if he wasn’t an American citizen–this man gave his life to serve our country’s mission. Host national security at our embassies/consulates are often the first targeted by terrorists, often using drive-by tactics like this, who are readying a larger attack. May justice be served on the filth that did this.

The video of her speaking there is more powerful, that woman is my hero. She dwarfs by comparison every single one in the sycophantic, puerile, attention-seeking, self-important, unserious, disgusting and utterly lying media .

QUESTION: But if you consider the new Libya a partner, and the President of Libya is now saying that the two events – the killing of Ambassador Stevens and the protests outside the Embassy – had nothing to do with each other, and – that doesn’t bode well for the partnership, it could be argued.

DEPUTY SECRETARY BURNS: No, I think what it suggests is that we need a thorough investigation in which we work as partners to get to the bottom of this, and then we’ll see who’s responsible and exactly what the chain of events was.

It’s clear that the attack which took the lives of Chris Stevens and three other colleagues was clearly choreographed and directed and involved a fair amount of firepower, but exactly what kind of planning went into that and how it emerged on that awful night, we just don’t know right now. But I’m confident we’ll get to the bottom of it.

So on Sept 26, the State Department was saying it was not spontaneous. Just not to the citizens of the United States.

Resist, here, turned out that indeed the ‘safe house’ in Beghazi wasn’t exactly a safe house, but a little CIA operational nest, and the security contractor jobs were just a cover for the ex navy seals there…

Among the more than two dozen American personnel evacuated from the city after the assault on the American mission and a nearby annex were about a dozen C.I.A. operatives and contractors, who played a crucial role in conducting surveillance and collecting information on an array of armed militant groups in and around the city.

“It’s a catastrophic intelligence loss,” said one American official who has served in Libya and who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the F.B.I. is still investigating the attack. “We got our eyes poked out.”

That’s why Paul and his supporters, including me, are in favor of a strong national defense that is based at home instead of spread out all over the world. We should be defending OUR borders, not someone else’s, and we shouldn’t be engaged in “nation building”.

Dante on October 11, 2012 at 10:11 AM

It is in this country’s best interests over the long term to
help other countries if they have shown their desire for freedom
and a representative government. We carry the big stick and have
an enormous amount of gifts and riches; it is bad karma for us
to not use them for good. And that includes defending smaller
countries who are threatened by the bullies.

If we were to stay at home and mind our own business, what would
happen when the savages take over Europe, Asia, Middle East,
Africa, South America, Central America, Mexico and Canada?

Didn’t Lawrence of Arabia just have a limited re-release? Obama should order Peter O’Toole in for questioning.

malclave on October 11, 2012 at 12:16 PM

Have we noticed that advertising and general chatter over the real OBL-Kill movie which the White House cooperated with, ‘Zero Dark Thirty’ suddenly ended on September 11th? Not a word. Did little Bammie give them the word?

No one, including me, has made that argument. But your use of personal attacks, including name calling, doesn’t really speak well for your ability to understand arguments.

Dante on October 11, 2012 at 9:58 AM

And yet just a few posts later you espouse the moronic libertarian position of ‘fortress America’ where we withdraw from the world and wait for people to attack our tall buildings / key icons, instead of killing them by the thousands in THEIR backyards.
You’re a hypocritical moron, Dante, saying whatever inconsistent garbage is necessary at the moment. People that read enough of your swill see it plainly.

That’s why Paul and his supporters, including me, are in favor of a strong national defense that is based at home instead of spread out all over the world. We should be defending OUR borders, not someone else’s, and we shouldn’t be engaged in “nation building”.

Dante on October 11, 2012 at 10:11 AM

Just 13mins later, you make the very sort of position statement that earlier poster charged.

, but the idea that countries like Iran will love us if we let them develop nuclear weapons, stop supporting Israel, support the Palestinians in all of their demands, leave the Middle East, and the rest of Ron Paul’s magic faerie foreign policy ideas is crazy.

Who is making that argument? No one, especially not Paul. That’s a straw man.

We carry the big stick and have an enormous amount of gifts and riches; it is bad karma for us to not use them for good. And that includes defending smaller countries who are threatened by the bullies.

If we were to stay at home and mind our own business, what would happen when the savages take over Europe, Asia, Middle East, Africa, South America, Central America, Mexico and Canada?

Amjean on October 11, 2012 at 12:18 P

Another “conservative” advocating the progressivise view. You sure are generous with other’s money and lives.

If it is determined that the best way to protect our borders is to protect the borders of other nations, would you not agree that failing to protect the borders of other countries is jeopardizing the borders of our country, even in a marginal way?

Dante, do you believe, as does Ron Paul, that the Gaza Strip and West Bank are concentration camps?

Do you believe that, as does Ron Paul, that Rick Perry is part of an international conspiracy to take over the world?

Do you agree with Ron Paul that Islamists do not hate us ” because we’re free and prosperous,” but rather “they want to do us harm because we’re bombing them”?

Do you agree with Ron Paul that the Constitution requires an official “Declaration of War” and, if so, do you believe that both Thomas Jefferson and James Madison should have been impeached? Do you believe that his position is supported by the minutes from the Constitutional Convention on 17 August 1789?

Do you think Bradley Manning is a “true patriot” and “political hero”?

Do you agree with Ron Paul’s contention that Nazi Germany wasn’t America’s enemy in WWII even though the former declared war on the latter first?

Do you think that America should have sent troops to end the Holocaust, which was about more than “just” 6 million Jews? Ron Paul said in 2009 that he would not have.

Do you believe that 9/11 was caused by anyone other than AQ? Ron Paul does…

In response to this question:

“Why won’t you come out about the truth about 9/11?”

- We Are Change LA

He answered:

“Because I can’t handle the controversy, I have the I.M.F., the Federal Reserve to deal with, the I.R.S. to deal with — no because I just have more, too many things on my plate.”

Obama and his muslim sympathizer pals like Holder, are just trying to hold out until Nov 6 and hope the dupes and mooches give him 4 more years more flexibility like he told Medvedev to pass along to his pal Putin…

I don’t know why we insist on sending living, breathing Americans to these countries. Here are a couple of options:

1. Hire mercenary stand-ins from other countries…maybe Canada-they seem to like Canadians more than Americans.

2. Put a computer in the embassy and have video conferences with the American ambassador…oh, his location? Anywhere where it’s safe, but surely not in that particular country.

3. If you simply have to have an American ambassador in that particular sorry excuse for a country, make sure the embassy is big enough to house a battalion of soldiers and/or marines and a couple of Abrams tanks…seriously.

Dante, do you believe, as does Ron Paul, that the Gaza Strip and West Bank are concentration camps?

As I stated above, Paul did not say Gaza and the West Bank are concentration camps. He said, “To me, I look at it like a concentration camp,” no country will take the population of Gaza or allow them entrance.

Do you believe that, as does Ron Paul, that Rick Perry is part of an international conspiracy to take over the world?

This is a gross misrepresentation. Perry was attending a meeting in Turkey with many foreign elites that was in violation of the Logan Act, and Paul called for a criminal investigation into his violation of the act. He did say it was an international conspiracy, because it was. I think you are confused over the meaning of conspiracy, and in a desire to misrepresent and smear, you include the “take over the world,” which Paul did not say.

Do you agree with Ron Paul that Islamists do not hate us ” because we’re free and prosperous,” but rather “they want to do us harm because we’re bombing them”?

Absolutely. “They hate us because we’re free” is laughable government propaganda. No, they hate us because we’ve engaged in interventionism for over 60 years. They hate us because we’ve invaded their lands, bombed them, and killed civilians. The absolutely do hate us because we’re bombing them, but we’re not bombing them in retaliation to attacks; we’ve been bombing them for decades.

Do you agree with Ron Paul that the Constitution requires an official “Declaration of War” and, if so, do you believe that both Thomas Jefferson and James Madison should have been impeached? Do you believe that his position is supported by the minutes from the Constitutional Convention on 17 August 1789?

Absolutely I agree the Constitution requires Congress to declare war and that the president doesn’t have that power. The Framers deliberately put that power in the hands of Congress. The War Powers Resolution is unconstitutional. The president only has the power to initiate force if we are about to be attacked, that is, if an attack is imminent, not months away. Neither Jefferson nor Madison violated the Constitution in this regard; their responses of force were defensive, coming after we were attacked. This is absolutely the position of the Framers and of the ratifiers at the conventions.

Do you think Bradley Manning is a “true patriot” and “political hero”?

What’s this, three? four straw men now? Paul did not call Manning a true patriot or political hero. He said that whistleblowers – plural – are patriots and political heros, that they should be protected from government prosecution.

Here is the quote:

“You know, talking about giving sovereign immunity to our government officials — and I would remove it all — but what about giving immunity to the whistleblowers? They’re the ones who need immunity. We have a few brave souls, especially in the foreign policy area — it came up in Vietnam, it’s come up more recently, Wikileaks. Information that, technically yes, they’re breaking a rule, but what is the government doing? They’re breaking the law.”

“So, if we have an American citizen that is willing to take the consequences and practice civil disobedience and say, ‘This is what our government’s doing,’ should he be locked up and imprisoned? Or should we see him as a political hero? Maybe he is a true patriot who reveals what’s going on in government.”

Personally, yes, I see Manning as a patriot and hero. His actions forced the military and our government to admit they were lying and he exposed a coverup. Our government is supposed to be accountable to us; it is supposed to be a government operating in the open, not in secret.

Do you agree with Ron Paul’s contention that Nazi Germany wasn’t America’s enemy in WWII even though the former declared war on the latter first?

Given your string of misrepresentations, I doubt you have accurately described Paul’s view. So I don’t know what quote you are referring to. If you would be kind to provide a direct quote, I’d appreciate it. Personally, we should not have gotten involved in WWII, despite Germany declaring war. It’s one thing to declare war, it’s another to engage in warfare. Should we have been on alert following the declaration? Absolutely. Should we have been involved? No. And Roosevelt was itching to get involved in war, and his economic conditions were designed to provoke Japan into attacking. Additionally, Wilson – a progressive like Roosevelt – was also itching to get us involved in war, and he goaded the Germans into attacking. The draconian conditions placed upon Germany following the war created the atmosphere that allowed the rise of Nazism. So far, you are siding with progressives and their foreign policy. Americans did not want to get involved in either instance, you know.

Do you think that America should have sent troops to end the Holocaust, which was about more than “just” 6 million Jews? Ron Paul said in 2009 that he would not have.

No, I don’t. I don’t believe in the government seizing property, wealth, and lives to be spent on the defense of a foreign people, their government, or their political boundaries. It’s immoral, as is interventionism.

Do you believe that 9/11 was caused by anyone other than AQ? Ron Paul does…

In response to this question:

“Why won’t you come out about the truth about 9/11?”

- We Are Change LA

He answered:

“Because I can’t handle the controversy, I have the I.M.F., the Federal Reserve to deal with, the I.R.S. to deal with — no because I just have more, too many things on my plate.”

Another gross misrepresentation. Paul does not believe anyone other than AQ was behind the attacks. He is speaking of the coverup of information and the CYA that quickly followed by the various bureaucracies. He correctly states that government should not be investigating itself, because no one is going to get the truth about anything that way.

I strongly question that you’re a libertarian, especially given your implied positions on WWII and the Constitional war powers. Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure you think you are libertarian, but you’re a low information libertarian.

I suggest that you open the link to my blog and WATCH Ron Paul. Furthermore, both Jefferson and Madison had the prior authorisation of Congress to use military force against the Barbary Pirates, which is exactly what Bush had in the war that Paul claims was “illegal.” Furthermore, the minutes of the Constitutional Convention support my position, not that of Ron Paul.

I suggest that you open the link to my blog and WATCH Ron Paul. Furthermore, both Jefferson and Madison had the prior authorisation of Congress to use military force against the Barbary Pirates, which is exactly what Bush had in the war that Paul claims was “illegal.” Furthermore, the minutes of the Constitutional Convention support my position, not that of Ron Paul.

Also, click on Unfit for Command.

Resist We Much on October 11, 2012 at 8:23 PM

I suggest you stop trying to construct straw men and engage the content head on instead of running and saying, “go to my blog.”

I suggest you stop trying to construct straw men and engage the content head on instead of running and saying, “go to my blog.”

Dante on October 11, 2012 at 8:55 PM

I suggest you start responding to his arguments, not running away and hiding while screaming “straw man! straw man!”.

Example:

As I stated above, Paul did not say Gaza and the West Bank are concentration camps. He said, “To me, I look at it like a concentration camp,” no country will take the population of Gaza or allow them entrance.

sim·i·le
[ símməlee ]
figurative language drawing comparison: a figure of speech that draws a comparison between two different things, especially a phrase containing the word “like” or “as,” e.g. “as white as a sheet”

Yes, you do know what an analogy is, right? Maybe if you had read the thread you would see that I said Paul was making a comparision; he was making an analogy. And do you see the part in your definition in which it explicitly states “two different things”?